One of the most common misconceptions about the wisdom of Kabbalah is that it can protect against evil eye. Kabbalah can indeed protect against evil eye, but the problem is that people have misconceptions about the meaning of the term “evil eye.”
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, and other sources that echo the same idea, “evil eye” is a “glance believed to have the ability to cause injury or death to those on whom it falls.” I have seen advertisements for amulets that are presented as related to the wisdom of Kabbalah, and can purportedly protect against such glares. I wish things were so simple that I could pay a few dollars and protect myself from curses.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is not our eyes that are evil, but our entire being, our hearts, as in, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21). We, all the people, are born with what is called “desire to receive only for ourselves.” We may or may not help other people; we may or may not be kind to other people; we may or may not be tough or soft, caring or cold, rude or polite, but in the end, we will be thinking of our own benefit when we do whatever we do, and we’ll be doing it for our own benefit. This is why despite countless good deeds that people do, the world is still going from bad to worse and nothing seems to help despite all our efforts.
Looking at, or even thinking of another person with the intention to benefit from that person, rather than the intention to benefit that person, is the Kabbalistic definition of “evil eye.” In fact, the whole purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is to change our intention from benefiting ourselves, namely having an “evil eye,” to benefiting others, namely to acquire a “good dye.”
However, Kabbalah doesn’t speak of the correction of only one person. Its final aim is to transform all of humanity by changing our evil thoughts of each other into good thoughts. This transformation of thoughts is the only way we can improve the deteriorating state of our world. It is also the only protection we can have from the evil eye, which is, as just said, our own nature.